- UK: Youngest black professor at Cambridge resigns as university investigates allegations of plagiarism
Source: Associated Press
“A British sociologist who became famous as the youngest [b]lack professor ever at the University of Cambridge has resigned after the university opened an investigation into ‘new information’ about his academic qualifications. Professor Jason Arday, who was 37 when he became a Cambridge professor in 2023, announced his decision late Wednesday following weeks of allegations about plagiarism in his academic work and questions surrounding claims about his athletic and fundraising accomplishments. … Questions about his qualifications were raised publicly last month by Nathan Cofnas, a one-time Cambridge philosophy researcher who left the university after his critique of diversity, equity and inclusion programs sparked widespread protests.” (08/06/26)
- FCC scraps limit on broadcast TV ownership
Source: NBC News
“The Federal Communications Commission, the government agency that regulates the broadcast airwaves, voted Thursday to eliminate a cap on the share of U.S. television households a single company can reach, a major move that could pave the way for more corporate consolidation in the media industry. In a 2-1 vote, the FCC repealed a 22-year-old rule holding that a company cannot own stations that reach more than a combined 39% of the U.S. television audience. The ownership limit will be replaced by a case-by-case approach.” [editor’s note: It should be replaced by a “none of the government’s business” approach – TLK] (08/06/26)
- US Senate committee votes to hold Fauci in contempt
Source: The Hill
“The Senate committee chaired by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Thursday voted to refer former chief White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci to be held in contempt. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in a party-line, 8-5 vote, with two additional ‘no’ votes by proxy, approved a resolution to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress following his hearing last week, during which the doctor invoked his Fifth Amendment rights 111 times and refused to answer a single question posed to him by the panel centered on the COVID-19 pandemic. … Criminal referrals that come from committees usually go to the full Senate for a vote, but Paul can also send it to the Department of Justice (DOJ). The Kentucky Republican indicated last week that he planned to move it directly to DOJ to not ‘waste time.’” [editor’s note: Why on earth would Paul suddenly stop wasting time now? It seems to be his favorite pastime – TLK] (08/06/26)
- Nigeria: President hails “largest ever” single-day rescue as 308 abductees freed
Source: ABC News
“At least 308 people abducted in different attacks in the northern part of Nigeria were rescued, the country’s president said Wednesday. Those rescued include 163 people abducted from Woro community in Kaiama area of Kwara state in February, and 145 people kidnapped mostly from Niger state, Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu said in a statement. Details of the operation that freed the more than 300 people who spent months in captivity were not disclosed, with the statement only saying they were rescued from a forest and are now receiving medical attention. … Armed groups, known as bandits in Nigeria, regularly carry out raids and kidnappings for ransom in the northwest and north-central parts of the country.” (08/06/26)
- Sanders’s answer when asked if he will endorse socialist Hong in Wisconsin sparks instant mockery
Source: Fox News
“Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was asked if he would endorse Democratic Socialist of America (DSA) member Francesca Hong’s Wisconsin gubernatorial bid, and his response sparked immediate mockery on social media. ‘I don’t think so,’ the Vermont socialist told ‘Pod Save America’ host Jon Favreau when asked if he is going to endorse Hong’s campaign for governor. ‘I met Francesca a couple of years ago. I was in Wisconsin, and she seems very, very nice, but again this is a race I’m just not that familiar with.’ Sanders added that ‘we have not gotten involved in many governors’ races’ …. Political commentators quickly chimed in on social media suggesting that Sanders not endorsing Hong shows the senator doesn’t think she can win, with many pointing to Sanders’ strident support of Platner despite all of his political baggage.” (08/06/26)
- US regime seeks extradition of Filipino church leader accused of sex crimes and fraud
Source: Seattle Times
“The United States has asked the Philippine government to extradite a Filipino church leader, who was once an influential adviser to former President Rodrigo Duterte, to face trial on charges including child sex trafficking and fraud that landed him on the FBI’s most wanted list, two Philippine officials said Thursday. The U.S. request for Apollo Carreon Quiboloy’s extradition was sent to the Department of Justice in Manila through the Philippine Foreign Affairs Department in July. The request needs the approval of two Philippine courts, which have been trying the detained former televangelist for human trafficking and child abuse charges, according to two high-ranking officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of a lack of authority to publicly discuss the issues.” (08/06/26)
- FDA approves Moderna’s mRNA flu vaccine after initially refusing to review it
Source: Engadget
“After initially refusing to even review it, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Moderna’s mRNA seasonal flu vaccine, the pharmaceutical company announced in a press release. Known as mFlusiva (or mRNA-1010), the immunization is effective against the four most common strains of influenza and has been in human testing trials since 2021. Those variants cause up to five million severe flu cases every year and result in as many as 650,000 respiratory deaths annually, the World Health Organization (WHO) wrote in 2017. The vaccine is approved for adults aged 50 and over.” (08/06/26)
https://www.engadget.com/2231390/fda-approves-modernas-mrna-flusiva-vaccine/
- UK: Women tell BBC of rape and abuse at Army teen college
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Four young women have told the BBC they were sexually assaulted and harassed at an Army training college for teenagers – with one saying she was raped by several fellow junior soldiers in an attack that lasted hours. The women all attended the Army Foundation College (AFC) at Harrogate, North Yorkshire, over the past five years and say the incidents happened when they were aged 17. The college has a dangerous culture of misogyny and sexual violence, say the women, who are all speaking out for the first time. These reports are ‘extremely distressing and serious’, said an Army spokesperson in a statement. The BBC can also reveal that North Yorkshire Police received 16 reports of sexual offences linked to the college in the year to June, according to a Freedom of Information request.” (08/06/26)
- Sweden: Top Court Clears Way for Transfer of Stolen Ship to Ukraine
Source: US News & World Report
“Sweden’s top court said on Thursday it has upheld a ruling that a cargo vessel seized in the Baltic Sea this year can be handed over to Ukraine, where it is suspected of illegally transporting grain from Russian-occupied territory. The supreme court dismissed an appeal from the owners of the Caffa vessel, which was seized in March off southern Sweden on suspicion of sailing under a false flag and of violating maritime and ship safety laws due to a lack of seaworthiness. Ukraine has sought the ship as part of a probe into suspected war crimes involving the appropriation and removal of property from Russian-occupied territory.” (08/06/26)
- Congo monitors nearly 200 boat passengers after traveler dies with Ebola-like symptoms
Source: SFGate
“Congolese health authorities monitored Thursday passengers traveling on a boat stationed near Kinshasa after a traveler died with symptoms matching the Ebola virus. Congo has been battling an Ebola outbreak since May, declared the fastest in history in terms of transmission, with confirmed cases reaching 4,000, including over 1,800 deaths, according to Dr. Jean Kaseya, Director-General of Africa CDC. The passenger had disembarked after getting sick in Pimu, in the province of Mongala, more than 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) from Kinshasa, Kaseya said Thursday, adding that the capital has no confirmed Ebola case. The boat had been traveling for nearly three weeks along the Congo River with nearly 200 passengers on board. They have been tested for Ebola and are in quarantine while awaiting their results. ‘We decided to do that even if some of them didn’t have symptoms because we want to make sure that we don’t miss anything,’ Kaseya added.” (08/06/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/dozens-of-health-workers-at-epicenter-of-22376735.php
- Trump tries to revise frivolous BBC lawsuit to avoid discovery
Source: Politico
“President Donald Trump is seeking to stave off a court order that requires him to begin giving the BBC financial details on his business empire by Thursday in connection with a defamation lawsuit he is pressing against the network. Trump’s attorneys filed the emergency stay motion Wednesday with Miami-based U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett, urging her to lift the order she issued last month that the British TV broadcaster is entitled to information on the financial performance of hundreds of Trump’s companies because he claimed his ‘brand, properties and businesses’ were damaged by a documentary the BBC aired in the U.K. in 2024. … The proposed new complaint ‘focuses on President Trump’s damages allegations on the reputational harm that he has suffered, which is at the core of this defamation action,’ Trump attorney Alejandro Brito wrote.” (08/05/26)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/08/05/BBC-donald-trump-lawsuit
- I Stopped Being a Libertarian Because I Realized the Sky is Blue
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan“When a thinker publicly changes his mind on major questions, neutral observers normally interpret it as a sign of courage and maturity. Almost no one enjoys admitting they were wrong — and ‘I changed my mind’ is tantamount to ‘I was wrong.’ On reflection, however, this favorable interpretation is premature. Yes, changing your mind because you discover surprising new evidence or arguments is courageous and mature. But what if you change your mind for purely emotional reasons, like ‘The idea that murderers shouldn’t be punished started to disgust me’? Or because you have a falling out with friends who share your views? ‘My girlfriend dumped me, so I left the church.’ Neither of these intellectual paths even hints at courage or maturity. The situation only slightly shifts if you change your mind because you ‘discover’ blatantly obvious evidence or arguments.” (08/06/26)
https://www.betonit.ai/p/i-stopped-being-a-libertarian-because
- For Real “Farm Aid,” Go “Free Trade”
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“The ‘farm bill’ concept is 93 years old, and it’s as bad an idea now, when only 1% of Americans work in agriculture, as it was in 1933’s first round of New Deal legislation, back when that number was 25%. We keep getting better at producing more food with less labor, but apparently buried deep within the US Constitution there’s an amendment obligating American taxpayers and consumers to ensure that anyone whose great-grandfather wore overalls and drove a tractor gets to make a living and have a career doing the same thing. I can’t find it, but it must be in there somewhere, right? Otherwise, why does Congress spend more than $70 billion a year to make it so?” (08/06/26)
- Trump’s Commerce Department as Venture Capitalist: Political Investment at its Worst
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by William L Anderson“As America’s first reality-show president, Donald Trump wants people to think he is breaking new ground and transforming America for the better. Stepping where no president before has gone, Trump has directed the US Commerce Department to take equity positions in 30 American firms, which clearly is controversial. Although the US is new to this policy, it isn’t the first country to do this, as France, Norway, Germany, China, and others have already seen governments purchase partial ownership in private firms. Supporters of this practice claim that any government infusion of cash into these businesses will expand the economy’s capital base, but there are plenty of reasons to oppose this practice, which economist Randall Holcomb has labeled ‘political capitalism.'” (08/06/26)
- Censorship Will Never Solve Antisemitism
Source: Yascha Mounk
by Yascha Mounk“When a group of neo-Nazis planned to march through the town of Skokie, Illinois, home to many Holocaust survivors, it was a Jewish attorney who stood up for their right of assembly. David Goldberger, then the legal director of the ACLU of Illinois, was no self-hating Jew, and he certainly harbored no sympathy for the National Socialist Party of America. But he realized that ‘the constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech and press would be meaningless if the government could pick and choose the persons to whom they apply.’ … The smartest case for free speech has never turned on denying that some utterances are so vile that all of us would be better off if they somehow disappeared from the public sphere. Rather, it was always based on skepticism that any institution, private or public, would consistently make these determinations in a reasonable and selfless manner.” (08/06/26)
https://writing.yaschamounk.com/p/dear-jews-dont-forget-your-free-speech
- Data Centers Are Not the Problem. Bad Policy Is.
Source: The Dispatch
by Scott Lincicome“In one sense, public backlash to data centers in the United States shouldn’t be surprising: Their construction and deployment have skyrocketed across the country, creating—not to get all goopy on you—a highly visible target for American angst about AI, Big Tech, U.S. politics, the turbulent economy, male-pattern baldness, and surely more. A recent New York Times op-ed captures the mood on the left well: These giant bricks guzzle water, gobble electricity, buzz loudly 24/7, and enrich Silicon Valley billionaires at regular folks’ expense. Opposition, however, isn’t just on the left: You’ll find similar takes from MAGA types on Facebook and NextDoor, and—as I just saw myself when driving outside Raleigh last week—big ‘NO DATA CENTER’ signs along many a rural roadside. Yet most of the common objections to data centers collapse under scrutiny.” (08/06/26)
https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/dispatch-markets/data-center-water-electric-taxes-benefits/
- The Long View of Iran
Source: American Greatness
by Victor Davis Hanson“One day, the United States seems ready to unleash a Curtis LeMay-style devastating bombing campaign of Iran. The next, it appears trapped in endless haggling with Iranian dissimulators. Of the roughly 150 days since the first strike, about 90 have passed without major military operations. Iran believes time is on its side. The Strait of Hormuz remains disrupted, gas prices are too high, and antiwar House Democrats seem poised to win the midterms and bring Trump’s war to a halt. Trump, by contrast, believes Iran can talk all it wants while sanctions, embargoes, and military pressure steadily weaken the regime. The war has become so politicized in an election year that several basic realities have gone largely unnoticed by the media. First, the cycle of bombing, pausing, negotiating, and bombing again may seem endless. But the confusion obscures the continuing effects of the embargoes, sanctions, blockade, and financial isolation imposed on Iran.” (08/06/26)
- Can a Freely Given Coconut Begin Civilization?
Source: The Daily Economy
by Anthony Gill“Trust precedes trade. Our natural empathy, our desire to see others do well, cultivates social order and generates the wealth of nations.” (08/06/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/can-a-freely-given-coconut-begin-civilization/
- Trump-Approved Profits
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob“Occasionally, President Trump takes an anti-capitalist rhetorical turn. He apparently supposes his unleashing of an Inner Mamdani will help him through a political rough patch. Or perhaps he is just momentarily confused. The president recently asserted that oil companies are making too much money right now and ‘ought to give back’ some of it to the public. This, although ‘I’m a big free enterprise guy.’ But oil companies don’t owe buyers anything more than the oil they supply. Nor, when prices are low, do buyers owe oil companies or gas stations more money than what they pay.” (08/06/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/08/06/trump-approved-profits/
- A soft way to harden homes against wildfire
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“With wildfires again threatening the American West this summer, Utah has become the latest state helping homeowners in high-risk areas to fortify their properties against drought-driven fire. From 2021 to 2024, the state saw the largest percentage increase in home insurance costs – a 59% hike – of any U.S. state. Yet unlike in Colorado and California, both of which recently enacted stricter rules on insurance companies and tough building codes to ‘harden’ a home from fire, Utah’s plan is more partnership than paternalism. It will first nudge homeowners with information on risks and remedies and only threaten a fee for noncompliance with new codes that aim to ensure a ‘defensible space’ from wildfire. ‘Our goal is to empower homeowners, communities, fire departments, and municipalities to act in reducing their vulnerability to wildfire by giving them the necessary tools to identify and understand their wildfire risk,’ states an official Utah website.” (08/05/26)
- Why James Madison Wanted Greater Limits on States’ Rights
Source: Reason
by Damon Root“On June 8, 1789, James Madison announced the batch of proposed constitutional amendments that would eventually become enshrined as the Bill of Rights. One of Madison’s would-be amendments, however, did not make the final cut, as it failed in the Senate after passing the House of Representatives. Here is what that lost Madisonian amendment to the Constitution would have said: ‘No state shall violate the equal rights of conscience, or the freedom of the press, or the trial by jury in criminal cases.’ Put differently, Madison wanted several parts of the Bill of Rights to apply equally against the federal government and the states. Why? ‘Because it must be admitted, on all hands,’ Madison said, ‘that the state governments are as liable to attack these invaluable privileges as the general [national] government is, and therefore ought to be as cautiously guarded against.'” (08/06/26)
https://reason.com/2026/08/06/why-james-madison-wanted-greater-limits-on-states-rights/
- Time for the Few Remaining Sensible Democrats to Put Up or Shut Up
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter“Only 25 years after the September 11 attacks on the United States, a major political party has fallen in with people who view that attack as deserved and the attackers as righteous. If it were parody, no one would accept it because good parody is based in truth and the truth is this fall of the Democratic Party is not believable. Sure, they’ve expressed sympathies for enemies of the United States before, but always for political advantage only; now they appear to mean it or are so afraid of it they won’t say anything to the contrary. Democrats have gone from being wrong to being an existential threat to the country. I have not seen a single Democrat candidate for office this election cycle praise the United States or even say anything that could be perceived as positive about it. Seriously, have you?” (08/06/26)
- What Is in Your Wallet? Not Very Much.
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Angelo Monaco“The classic virtue of thrift — once celebrated as a moral cornerstone of self-reliance, discipline, and stewardship — has largely been cast aside by a modern economic system designed to punish it. For centuries, saving was viewed as a quiet duty to one’s family and future, a practice that paired material restraint with ethical responsibility. Today, however, our financial architecture actively undermines this morality. Persistent inflation erodes the purchasing power of uninvested savings, while hyper-financialization and record-low interest rates reduce traditional thrift to a losing strategy. In a culture driven by immediate gratification and an economic engine fueled by perpetual consumer debt, the deliberate act of saving is no longer a protected path to security, but rather a virtue systematically penalized by the very system that once relied on it.” (08/06/26)
https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/what-is-in-your-wallet-not-very-much/
- Fauci Contempt of Congress Can Be Challenged, but his Contempt for the Public is Undeniable
Source: Jonathan Turley
by Jonathan Turley“‘Today I am the most famous and talked-about person in the country’. Those words from the diary of Dr. Anthony Fauci will certainly be true today as the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs moves forward with holding him in contempt for refusing to answer over a hundred questions about his past conduct and statements as the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The contempt vote will start a process that is fraught with political and legal challenges. Even putting aside the objections to the direct referral from the Committee to the Justice Department (rather than submit the matter to a full Senate vote), there remain serious questions about whether Fauci can be held in contempt after invoking his right to remain silent under the Fifth Amendment.” (08/06/26)
- War, Peace, and Free Trade
Source: Law & Liberty
by Edwin van de Haar“Many classical liberals see themselves as myth busters. In particular, they take aim at those myths that erroneously link a big state and collectivist action with welfare and prosperity. No thinker is too prominent or a theory too grand to be undermined by proper and sound classical liberal analysis. And rightly so. Yet many classical liberals are blind to their own myth, which is the idea that trade or commerce fosters, or leads to, peace. Admittedly, they share this misconception with some of the great names in the wider liberal tradition, such as Mill, Cobden, Kant, and Montesquieu. Yet they were erroneous nonetheless.” (08/06/26)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/war-peace-and-free-trade/
- Human Flourishing and Marginal Utility
Source: EconLog
by Clifford A Bates Jr.“The law of diminishing marginal utility is one of the foundational principles of economics, but its significance extends far beyond the marketplace. The principle states that as a person acquires additional units of a good, the satisfaction gained from each successive unit tends to decline. The first glass of water relieves intense thirst, the second provides comfort, and the third offers only modest enjoyment. While economists developed this concept to explain value and choice, it also reveals a deeper truth about human existence.” (08/06/26)
https://www.econlib.org/econlog/human-flourishing-and-marginal-utility
- Iran Is a Wake-Up Call for the Defense Establishment
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ioannis Vlahos“As the war in Iran has reached its fifth month, progress fails to be made and opposition continues to mount. And while President Donald Trump certainly deserves his fair share of the blame, the playbook he’s using is in no way his own. Since the Cold War, the United States has become the preeminent world power, utilizing its heavily budgeted and expansive military to enforce its hegemony across the globe. During the later years of the 20th century especially, this has primarily taken the form of strategic bombing and overwhelming air power. … The Iran War not only illustrated the defense establishment’s affinity for aerial bombardment, but it also greatly exposed the problematic nature of this framework as official DoD strategy.” (08/06/26)
- Rogers versus El-Sayed a referendum on future of America
Source: Fox News
by Hugh Hewitt“Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan’s Senate Democratic primary Tuesday over Congresswoman Haley Stevens. El-Sayed had a 1% win in a race that featured a third candidate, Mallory McMorrow, who had dropped out but who nevertheless polled around 4% of the total vote. Mike Rogers is the GOP nominee in the fall against El-Sayed. In 2024, Rogers — a very respected, former seven-term Congressman from Michigan who served as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee — tallied 2,693,680 votes, or 48.30% of the total electorate in the state in a Senate race he lost to Elissa Slotkin. Republicans need only turn out the same electorate as voted in 2024 and Rogers will win the 2026 race. That sort of turnout is usually, however, a big lift in a non-presidential year, because statewide elections are not as exciting to the average American as presidential contests.” (08/06/26)
- The Promising Young Man defence
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Kym Robinson“A former high school baseball player, with a successful businessman as a father and, a promising young man with a ‘bright future’ ahead of him avoided prison for the rape, strangulation, and violent assault of two teenage girls. He was facing up to 78 years in prison, and was instead granted a youthful offender status. Where he must attend community service and counselling. Butler pleaded ‘no contest’ to the charges. And the district attorney claimed that Butler had suffered more than his victims by being subjected to the process of trial and harm to his credibility as a young man. … Butler’s case is not isolated. As many feminists and rights activists have continued to push to the fore front, young men from wealthy and connected families can get away with rape.” (08/06/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/the-promising-young-man-defence
- Palantir’s weird tax trick — paying the staff
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall“Apparently: ‘Palantir paid just £2m corporation tax in UK in 2024 despite lucrative public sector contracts.’ That someone tries to measure how useful the producer of something is by their tax payments – rather than the value of their output – is deeply weird in itself. … Palantir pays its staff well, partly in shares. That’s it, that’s the one weird trick. They pay the staff well. British political discourse is so perverted that this is seen as a problem.” (08/06/26)
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/palantirs-weird-tax-trick-paying-the-staff
- Jackson vs. Thomas
Source: Law & Liberty
by Allen Mendenhall“The dissent in Trump v. Barbara tries to undermine the colorblind Constitution.” (08/06/26)
- American veterans know the cost of a military-first foreign policy
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Andrew M Leonard“Those who have served have experienced first hand what it’s like to fight in conflicts without clearly defined political goals or adequate tools of statecraft.” (08/06/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/veterans-us-foreign-policy/
- Can DSA’s Francesca Hong Win in Cheese Country?
Source: The American Prospect
by Ryan Cooper“Abdul El-Sayed has done it in Michigan. Though the race was much closer than polling predicted, El-Sayed, a progressive epidemiologist and former state public-health official, has defeated Rep. Haley Stevens by about one percentage point. He had to fend off a veritable ocean of money from outside corporate groups and AIPAC, which together spent some $70 million trying to stop him, making it the most expensive Democratic Senate primary in American history. Though El-Sayed is not a Democratic Socialists of America member, Donavan McKinney is, and he narrowly won the primary to represent Michigan’s 13th House District, which covers Detroit and some of its suburbs; he will be a lock to win the general election. There will almost certainly be seven DSA members in the next Congress: McKinney, incumbents Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, and primary winners Chris Rabb, Claire Valdez, Darializa Avila Chevalier, and Melat Kiros.” (08/06/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/08/06/can-dsas-francesca-hong-win-in-cheese-country-wisconsin-governor/
- The Memory Hole
Source: Consent Factory, Inc.
by CJ Hopkins“I’m beginning to think something is wrong with my memory. It’s strange, the feeling. I don’t know how to describe it. It’s not like I have amnesia or anything. I remember who I am, I think. And I remember things that happened in the past, but I don’t think I remember them the way they happened. The history of the Covid years, for example. My memory of that period is all messed up. I hadn’t realized how messed up until I saw the news about the Fauci hearing, where Fauci refused to answer questions about his role as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.” (08/06/26)
- Trump’s New Section 301 Tariffs Are a Tax on American Consumers
Source: Karl Dickey’s Freedom Vanguard
by Karl Dickey“The administration says the 10 percent to 12.5 percent import taxes will fight forced labor. The reality is they raise prices, punish working families, weaken manufacturers, and restrict free trade.” (08/06/26)
https://palmbeachexaminer.substack.com/p/trumps-new-section-301-tariffs-are
- The Parasocial Style in American Politics, Part 2: Witch Hunts and Comfort Blankets
Source: Liberal Currents
by Alan Elrod“As during witch hunts, social media enables a process of rendering people into totemic figures in a war between Good and Evil.” (08/06/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-parasocial-style-in-american-politics-part-2/
- Permanent Victory for the Democrats’ Left Flank Is Not Assured
Source: The American Conservative
by W James Antle III“Trump’s job approval rating dipping below 40 percent, especially on the economy, creates openings for Democrats of all stripes. But most importantly, he has allowed the populist left to steal the America First mantle, with candidates promising to spend taxpayer dollars on needs at home rather than on weapons and wars abroad. But the socialists seem hell-bent on blowing their political opportunity as well. Even if their economic message is flawed, to put it mildly, an economically motivated left can compete better than a culturally motivated one.” (08/06/26)
- Open Questions On Open Weights
Source: Astral Codex Ten
by Scott Alexander“Last month, some of Silicon Valley’s biggest companies signed an open letter supporting open-weights AI. Open weights AI is like open-source software, where the creator makes the raw code publicly available for free download. It’s good insofar as it’s the only way an AI can truly be the user’s property, as opposed to something that companies like OpenAI or Anthropic temporarily let you use subject to their corporate guidelines and increasingly-nanny-state-like restrictions. If AI becomes the linchpin of the future, open weights AI feels like the sort of thing that could be the difference between being free yeomen vs. corporate serfs.” (08/05/26)
https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/open-questions-on-open-weights
- The DSA Is a Menace
Source: Persuasion
by Garry Kasparov“The DSA has moved from a principled pro-democracy stand on world affairs to tankie turpitude. Today’s DSA includes explicitly communist factions. Yet Harrington rejected the brutality of Soviet and Chinese communism and his icons were real social democrats. In 1980, the DSA founder organized a conference attended by West Germany’s Social Democratic Chancellor Willy Brandt, Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, and future French President François Mitterrand. In 1990, Mayor David Dinkins (the first DSA-member to serve as mayor of New York—not Zohran Mamdani) hosted Brandt, who was by then president of the Socialist International (an alliance of mainstream social democratic parties), at City Hall. Today’s DSA would regard those men as insufficiently socialist …” (08/05/26)
- Rising, 08/06/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on Yale professor Samuel Moyn suggesting that American children should be indirectly given voting power by assigning their votes to young people over the age of 18.” (08/06/26)
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 08/06/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“MAGA Meltdown As Tucker Unveils 10 Point Plan.” (08/06/26)
- Libertarian Angle, 08/06/26
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Jacob and Richard share some fond reminisces about the libertarian movement back in the day.” (08/06/26)
https://www.fff.org/freedom-in-motion/video/libertarian-angle-back-in-day-memories/
- The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 08/06/26
Source: The New Republic
“Who is Abdul El-Sayed? His Harsh New Takedown of Trump Offers a Clue.” (08/06/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/214041/abdul-el-sayed-harsh-new-takedown-trump-offers-clue
- Underthrow Podcast, 08/06/26
- Advisory Opinions, 08/06/26
Source: The Dispatch
“Fauci Pleads the Fifth | Interview: Elie Honig.” (08/06/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/advisoryopinions/fauci-pleads-the-fifth-interview-elie-honig-2/
- Cato Podcast, 08/06/26
Source: Cato Institute
“Wealth Taxes Failed Abroad. Why Try Them Here?” (08/06/26)
https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-podcast/wealth-taxes-failed-abroad-why-try-them-here
- Nerdcast, 08/06/26
Source: Politico
“Can the GOP ‘defy history’ in the midterms? (with Speaker Mike Johnson).” (08/06/26)
- The Blessings of Liberty with Jeffrey Rosen, 08/06/26
Source: The Blessings of Liberty with Jeffrey Rosen
“America on the Docket: The 2026 Supreme Court.” (08/06/26)
https://rosenjeffrey.substack.com/p/america-on-the-docket-the-2026-supreme
- The Chris Hedges Report, 08/05/26
Source: The Chris Hedges Report
“How the Epstein Network is Privatizing the Government & Building Out the Surveillance State (w/Whitney Webb).” (08/05/26)
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/how-the-epstein-network-is-privatizing
- Kibbe on Liberty, episode 398
Source: Free the People
“What the Flock? We’re All Under Surveillance Now | Guest: Glenn Jacobs.” (08/05/26)